Conventional elevator designs typically include a box-like elevator cab mounted within a hoistway and including one or more sets of doors including large solid door panels that are moved from the opened to closed position and back on a linear pathway. However, variations of the conventional commercial elevator design, such as smaller limited-usage, limited-access elevators which are increasingly being installed or retrofitted in homes or small apartment buildings, and cylindrically shaped elevators, require door assemblies in which the doors open and close in a non-linear pathway to facilitate operation of the doors within the smaller space and/or to allow the doors to move in conformance with the cylindrical shape of the elevator cab.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,953, issued to William E. Munz on Aug. 6, 1991, discloses a retractable elevator door including a plurality of door panel assemblies which are interconnected and move through a right-angle bend along upper and lower tracks to provide an elevator door that does not require a lot of space outside of the elevator cab for receipt of the door panels when the door is opened. Munz, however, utilizes a wheel assembly and guide track design which is relatively complex and expensive to manufacture. Moreover, the interlocking panel assemblies similarly require interconnection of many parts. The panel assemblies which utilize a plurality of generally rectangular panels with generally cylindrical hinge pins in between the panels, provide a door surface which has a lot of openings running for the entire length of the door.